Now, according to many investors, hedge funds are seen as useless, old financial tools of a forgotten age. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds in operation in present day, this site looks at the moguls of this club, close to 525 funds. It is assumed that this group controls the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total assets, and by tracking their highest quality equity investments, we’ve uncovered a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Just as useful, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to look at the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
Furthermore, we’re going to discuss the recent info about Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX).
How have hedgies been trading Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -23% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX). Royce & Associates has a $83.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Daruma Asset Management, managed by Mariko Gordon, which held a $69.4 million position; the fund has 3.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital.
As Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) has faced a fall in interest from the top-tier hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we key on, worth about $9.7 million in stock, and Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $3.7 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 6 funds last quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX). These stocks are Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO), Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA), Iconix Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:ICON), Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX), and Tumi Holdings Inc (NYSE:TUMI). This group of stocks belong to the textile – apparel footwear & accessories industry and their market caps are similar to CROX’s market cap.
